U.S. Detects N.Korea Missile-Test Preparations, Asahi Says

Source: Bloomberg

The U.S. told Japan and South Korea it detected preparations indicating North Korea could be preparing to test long-range ballistic missile as early as this month, the Asahi newspaper reported today.

A press official at South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said he couldn’t confirm the Asahi newspaper report. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to military policy, said the army was watching North Korea as usual and South Korea’s alert level was unchanged.

The warning comes two years after four people were killed when North Korean artillery shelled Yeonpyeong Island near a disputed sea border, and as South Korea prepares for presidential elections next month. North Korea won’t “miss the opportunity” if “warmongers perpetrate another provocation,” an unidentified North Korean military spokesman said in a statement published yesterday by the Korea Central News Agency.

North Korea said in October that it has developed missiles capable of reaching the U.S., a claim disputed by academics including Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. The regime in April fired a long-range rocket that failed shortly after liftoff, an act that cost it a food-aid deal with the U.S.

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